Seaside's Stacey Parks overwhelmed by support after apartment fire

Just before noon Friday, Stacey Evans Parks started to cry when a customer at a Seaside restaurant gave her an envelope.

It was the most immediate offering in a campaign among a wide circle of friends and strangers to support Parks, 47, with love and money after she lost her Mescal Street apartment to a devastating fire the day after Christmas.

"It's been so emotional and so amazing," said Parks, who also is waging a second battle against cancer that could kill her within six months.

"The community has really reached out. I'm living on hope and faith and the compassion people are giving me," Parks said by telephone from The Breakfast Club, 1130 Fremont Blvd.

Parks, a hairdresser, cut her hands and knees and suffered smoke inhalation after she broke a window and crawled into the smoky apartment to rescue her daughter's Chihuahua. The blaze was started by a faulty wall plug, fire officials said.

Parks wasn't at the apartment when the fire started. She got home and saw the windows black with smoke. She tried to break a window with the base of a fountain. It bounced off, hit her and left a nasty bruise. Then she got in and crawled to the dog.

"It's a crazy situation, losing your home and everything and having cancer on top of that," she said.

But Parks, who said "I don't do sick," sounded more dazed by the compassion coming her way than by the double dose of bad fortune hanging over her.

"Her attitude is positive and upbeat," said Mark Scott Arellano, the restaurant manager who is helping coordinate support for Parks and her daughter.

The Red Cross is helping with emergency lodging at a motel, and the campaign initially is for cash donations. First needs are replacing Parks' medicines and getting into a new place to live, Arellano said.

Parks' 18-year-old daughter Dominique lives with her, and it was fortunate her work uniform survived the fire because it was in a downstairs washing machine, Arellano said. But almost everything else in the apartment was lost.

On Friday morning, Arellano estimated about $600 to $800 in donations came in. Restaurant customers were leaving $5 or $10 for Parks with their checks. And a Paypal account at Markinmonterey@aol.com is set up to handle online donations.

Right now, money is needed rather than clothing or furniture because they have no place to store those goods, Arellano said.

"We've probably fielded 30 calls here," he said.

Parks wrote Friday on her Facebook page, "The love we are feeling from both those we know and complete strangers has been amazing."